Project Title
Experiences of Music Therapy Students Pre and Post Covid-19
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Laurie Peebles
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic in a matter of days made the whole world stop. For educational facilities all around the United States, there was no time to adjust to the needs that students had during that time (Salvador et al., 2021). As of fall 2022, we still do not completely know the effects that the Coronavirus had on college music students at the time (Lotzin et al., 2021). It is also no surprise that the Coronavirus had a large effect on the psychological health of college students, such as anxiety, and depression (Fang et al., 2022). The Covid-19 pandemic’s main effect on college music students was that it decreased students' practice tim stressful thoughts and feelings (Rosset et al., 2021). There have also been emerging concerns in students who have been infected with the virus. These consist of social isolation, and deprivation of liberty (Fang et al., 2022). It has been shown that psychological stress has been shown in students specifically due to home isolation, online study, graduation, and employment pressures (Lotzin et al., 2021). While most students and faculty were glad to meet at all, even if they were online, the majority of participants preferred in-person learning (Salvador et al., 2021). The purpose of this research study is to compare the experiences of music therapy students pre and post covid-19. The two research questions that will guide this study are: 1)What are the experiences of music therapy students pre and post Covid-19? 2)How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected college music students? This study will take place at Georgia College & State University in Fall 2023. There will be a total of 10 participants. Five participants will be people who were students between fall 2017 and fall 2019, and five will be current students or people who have been students between 2020 and 2022. All 10 of the participants will be music therapy students from Georgia. Participants will be recruited through the MTAG Facebook group and the MTAG group on the Slack app. My expectation for this study is that the Covid-19 pandemic has put a considerably more amount of stress on current college students or students who have been in school in the years 2020-2022 than students who were in school before 2020. Being someone who graduated high school during the pandemic and not having a normal year of college, I believe that others are having these feelings like me and having a more stressful time adjusting than others. I will also examine the difference between in-person and virtual learning. I am using a qualitative research study so I can get the stories of these students and now professionals and see firsthand the differences that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on college music students. This study will utilize a phenomenological research design. Phenomenological research examines the personal experiences of music therapy students pre and post Covid-19. I will conduct an hour-long semi-structured interview with each participant, and then have a focus group with the pre-Covid-19 cohort and the post-Covid-19 cohort about their experiences. I will also ask participants to look back on their posts from these years that accurately describe their experiences as a music therapy student. Since I will be asking participants to reflect on their past experiences, considerations regarding participants memory need to be taken into account. This research study interviews current college students (or professionals who are recently out of college) and professionals who graduated up to four years ago. Their ideas of college may be different now than what it was four years ago. For example, they might exaggerate how stressful it actually was, or may not remember exactly how much stress they were feeling. References Fang, Y., Ji, B., Liu, Y., Zhang, J., Liu, Q., Ge, Y., Xie, Y., & Liu, C., (2022). The prevalence of psychological stress in student populations during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 12(12118), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16328-7 Lotzin, A., Djelantik, A.A.A., Eidhof, M., Haan, A., & Kiralj, J., (2021). Trauma and mental health during the global pandemic. European Journal of Psycho-Traumatology, 12(1), 1-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1940588 Rosset, M., Baumann, E., & Atlenmuller, E. (2021). Studying music during the coronavirus pandemic: Conditions of studying and health-related challenges. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651393 Salvador, K., Knapp, E., & Mayo, W., (2021). Reflecting on the ‘community’ in community music school after a transition to all-online instruction. Music Education Research, 23(2), 194-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2021.1905623
Experiences of Music Therapy Students Pre and Post Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic in a matter of days made the whole world stop. For educational facilities all around the United States, there was no time to adjust to the needs that students had during that time (Salvador et al., 2021). As of fall 2022, we still do not completely know the effects that the Coronavirus had on college music students at the time (Lotzin et al., 2021). It is also no surprise that the Coronavirus had a large effect on the psychological health of college students, such as anxiety, and depression (Fang et al., 2022). The Covid-19 pandemic’s main effect on college music students was that it decreased students' practice tim stressful thoughts and feelings (Rosset et al., 2021). There have also been emerging concerns in students who have been infected with the virus. These consist of social isolation, and deprivation of liberty (Fang et al., 2022). It has been shown that psychological stress has been shown in students specifically due to home isolation, online study, graduation, and employment pressures (Lotzin et al., 2021). While most students and faculty were glad to meet at all, even if they were online, the majority of participants preferred in-person learning (Salvador et al., 2021). The purpose of this research study is to compare the experiences of music therapy students pre and post covid-19. The two research questions that will guide this study are: 1)What are the experiences of music therapy students pre and post Covid-19? 2)How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected college music students? This study will take place at Georgia College & State University in Fall 2023. There will be a total of 10 participants. Five participants will be people who were students between fall 2017 and fall 2019, and five will be current students or people who have been students between 2020 and 2022. All 10 of the participants will be music therapy students from Georgia. Participants will be recruited through the MTAG Facebook group and the MTAG group on the Slack app. My expectation for this study is that the Covid-19 pandemic has put a considerably more amount of stress on current college students or students who have been in school in the years 2020-2022 than students who were in school before 2020. Being someone who graduated high school during the pandemic and not having a normal year of college, I believe that others are having these feelings like me and having a more stressful time adjusting than others. I will also examine the difference between in-person and virtual learning. I am using a qualitative research study so I can get the stories of these students and now professionals and see firsthand the differences that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on college music students. This study will utilize a phenomenological research design. Phenomenological research examines the personal experiences of music therapy students pre and post Covid-19. I will conduct an hour-long semi-structured interview with each participant, and then have a focus group with the pre-Covid-19 cohort and the post-Covid-19 cohort about their experiences. I will also ask participants to look back on their posts from these years that accurately describe their experiences as a music therapy student. Since I will be asking participants to reflect on their past experiences, considerations regarding participants memory need to be taken into account. This research study interviews current college students (or professionals who are recently out of college) and professionals who graduated up to four years ago. Their ideas of college may be different now than what it was four years ago. For example, they might exaggerate how stressful it actually was, or may not remember exactly how much stress they were feeling. References Fang, Y., Ji, B., Liu, Y., Zhang, J., Liu, Q., Ge, Y., Xie, Y., & Liu, C., (2022). The prevalence of psychological stress in student populations during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 12(12118), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16328-7 Lotzin, A., Djelantik, A.A.A., Eidhof, M., Haan, A., & Kiralj, J., (2021). Trauma and mental health during the global pandemic. European Journal of Psycho-Traumatology, 12(1), 1-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1940588 Rosset, M., Baumann, E., & Atlenmuller, E. (2021). Studying music during the coronavirus pandemic: Conditions of studying and health-related challenges. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.651393 Salvador, K., Knapp, E., & Mayo, W., (2021). Reflecting on the ‘community’ in community music school after a transition to all-online instruction. Music Education Research, 23(2), 194-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2021.1905623